Cigarette-tipping machine.



- 1. CALLAGHANf CIGARETTE TIPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8. 1913.

Patented July 24, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

www@ t J. CALLAGHAN.

CIGARETTE TIPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8,191,3-

Patented July 24, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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APPLICATION FILED APH. 8, |913. I,234,285 Patented .my 24,1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

J. CALLAGHADL CIGARETTE TIPPING MAcHmE. v

I APPLICATION FILEDAPR. 8, |913. L234,285 Patented July 24, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

JAMES CALLAGHAN, OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

CIGARETTE-TIPPING MACHINE.

resinas.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April B, 1913. Serial No. 759,686.k

To all wlw/m, it may concern:

Be it known that I, Janus Camiel-IAN,

a subject of the King of Great Britain, re-

siding at the city of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada7 have invented new and useful improvements in Cigarette-Tipping Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in cigarette tipping machines, and the object in general is to provide means for applying tips of cork or other material to cigarettes more rapidly and perfectly than heretofore i5 possible.

The machine comprises essentially a belt onto which the cigarettes are fed from a hopper, a feeding and pasting mechanism for the tipping material, and means for applying the tipping material to the cigarettes. Cooperating with these means are means for cutting the tipping material any suitable length, means for holding the cigarettes during tipping, and means for moving the tipping mechanism to correspond with the movement of the cigarette carrying belt.

ln the drawings which illustrate the inventiom- Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine.

lfig. 2 is a plan vieiv of same. F ig. 3 is a right hand end elevation. l? ig. d is a rear elevation of the tip feeding and pasting mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a sectional vie-vv on the line 5 5,

Fig. 2, showing the tipping mechanism enlarged.

lTig. 6 is a similar section on the line 6--6, Fig.

Fig. 7 is a rear elevation of the tipping mechanism on the same scale as Figs. 5 and 6.

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectionof the sleeve and cams operating the tipping mechanism.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged front elevation of a fragment of the tipping chain, showing the first step of the tipping operation.

liig. l() is a view similar to Fig. 9 illustrating the commencement of the second step of the tipping operation.

Fig. l1 is a view similar to Figs. 9 and l0 illustrating the commencement of the third and last step of the tipping operation.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, l1 designates a bed upon which all the parts of the apparatus are mounted. At the ends of this bed are transversely disposed shafts l2 upon Which are rigidly mounted drums 13 carrying the cigarette belt 14 and tipping belt l5. @ne of these shafts l2 preferably at the right hand end of the machine extends to the front of the bed, and is provided with a worm wheel lo meshing with a Worm 17 mounted on a power distributing shaft 1S arranged longitudinally at the front of the bed. rlhis distributing shaft 18 is provided with fast and loose pulleys 19 and 20 respectively.

rlhe cigarette carrying belt consists of a plurality of short wide links 21 pivotally connected and each provided on` Aits upper surface with a cigarette holding groove The Width of the links 2l is approximately equal to the lengt-h of a cigarette, so that the cigarettes will be supported throughout their entire length and held against any relative movement by the grooves in which they lie. The cigarettes are contained in a hopper 23 mounted at the left hand end of the machine, and feed out through an opening 24 at the bottom of the hopper .into the grooves of the carrying belt lil. rlhe outlet of the hopper may be provided with a gate of any suitable form (not shown) for regulatingthe escape of the cigarettes.

The tipping belt l5 which is located to the front of the carrying belt is much narrower, its Width being approximately equal to the length of tip which it is desired to apply. This belt is composed of links 25 of exactly the same length as the links 2l of the carrying belt, and each provided with a groove 26 in the upper surface thereof in register With the grooves 22 of the carrying belt, in order that as the cigarettes advance with the carrying belt their rear ends Will be brought into contact with a stationary cam 27, and thus projected forward into the grooves of the tipping belt. The links of the tipping belt are each hollovved out under the grooves, as indicated at 28, the recesses thus formed being in communication ivith the grooves through a plurality of minute or capillary apertures 29. The abutting ends of the links are also cut away above their points of `pivotal connection to form recesses 30, into which the tipping mechanism may be projected. At the point Where the tipping operation is tobe performed, the tipping belt passes over a suction box 3l, the joint between the belt Patented July 2st, i917 and box being made as nearly fluid tight as possible, so that air will be drawn in only through the capillary apertures 29.

The tip pasting and feeding mechanism is all mounted on a vertical frame 32 secured to the bed immediately in front of the tipping belt. rilhe tipping material, which may be corln gold or silver surfaced paper or the like, is prepared in the form of a ribbon wound on a spool 33 carried by the frame 32. The ribbon of tipping material designated 34 passes downwardly from the spool under a double tanged idler roll and over a similar roll 36, and under the hnurled pasting roll 37. rrllhis pasting roll 37 projects partly into the bottoni of a paste reservoir 38, and carries the paste out of the reservoir by means of its roughened surface. After leaving the paste roll 37 the tipping material passes between a pair of hnurled discl'iarge rolls 38 and 39 into a small flanged trough 40, through which it slides onto the tipping belt 15. r he material is prevented from buckling or curling and escaping from the trough, and is also pressed down onto the tipping belt by a gravity actuated pivot arm 41. y mounted at one end of a bell-crank lever 42, the oppositeend of which is connected to a tensioned spring 43, which operates toy press the roll 38 rdosvnwardly against the roll 39. The paste ioll 37 and discharge roll 39 are provided with small chain wheels 44 and 45 respectively over which an endless chain 46 passes to a drive wheel 477 driven by miter gears 48 from the distributing shaft 1S. ltr

will be noted in 1 that the wheel 45 of the discharge roll is slightly smaller than f the wheels 44 and 47, which are preferably of equal size, so that thedischarge roll will turn a trille faster than the pastefroll, and thus leep the material in tension. lThe gean ing is also so arranged that the surface speed of the discharge roll is slightly greater than the surface yspeed of the tipping belt, so that a suliicient slackness will be inaintained in the tipping material to permit of its being drawn down into the grooves of the tipping belt by the suction previously described.. o

The tipping mechanism is mounted on a table 49 which is slidable longitudinally of the machine bed between guides 50 secured to ksaid bed. rllhis table is reciprocated by means of a cam 51 mounted on the shaft 18 engaging a roller 52 carried by the table. Suitable springs 53 are provided to hold the table roll always against the cam. il slide 54 is mounted in guides 55 carried by the table. This slide is in the form of a flat plate standing on edge and arranged t move transversely of the machine, that is, from front to bach, as is clearly shown by the drawings. The table 49 is preferably mounted centrally under the'shaft 18 which The upper discharge roll`38 isk passes through a slot 5G formed in the slide 54. rllhis slide is operated by a cam 57 cariied by theshaft 1S and pressing against r rbut when the slide is advanced the tipping members project iiitoL the path of the belt and are received in the recesses 30 thereof7 the table carrying the slide being at this time moved by itscam at the same speed as the belt, vso that the parts do not interfere with one another. it the rear end of the slide is a vertically disposed slide (SO preferably arranged on the opposite side of the horizontal slide 54 from the operating cam 57, that is7 on the right hand side. This vertical slide GO is operated by a lever 61 y pivoted at one extremity 6:2 to the frontend ofthe slide and connected at the opposite extremity by a link y63 with the slide. rllhe rlever carries intermediate its extremities a roller 54g which when the slide 54 is in its forward position is engaged by a cani 65 having its throw arranged in two stages concentric with theshaft 18 carrying the cam, as clearly shown in Fig.y 5. From this, it willbe seen that the slide 60 will rise a certain distance, pauses and then rise farther and finally drop directly to its lowest position. A spring 66 is tensioned between the lever 61 and horizontal yslide 54 tohold the Yvertical slide 60 normally infits lowest position. Excess downward inoven'ient of this slide is prevented by a stop '67.

riois The vertical slide 60 carries an arm 68, f

the free end'of which is provided with bifurcations G9 spaced apart suhficiently to be iio inserted in adjacent recesses 30 of the tipf ping chain, and thus embrace the hollow grooved top portion of each link carrying a,

cigarette. p ,roations 69 is Each of these bii provided with a plurality of pins 70 and 71. l`he pins 70 mounted on the left hand bifurcatioii are twice the length of the pins 71 mounted on the right hand bifurcation, as will be clearly seen in Figs. 9, 10 and 11. rl'he distance from the top of the long pins 70 to the bottoni of the bifurcation carrying arm is approximately equal to the depth the recesses 30 of the tipping chain7 so that the bifurcations may be projected into these recesses without the pins 70 or 71 catching on the strip of tipping material lying under the rtop of the chain.

shear bladev 7 2 is rigidly mounted on the rear end of the slide 54 a short distance to :casarse the left of the leftbifurcation 69, so as to enter the same chain recess 30 as this bifurcation. rlhe upper or cutting edge of this blade is at approximately the same level as the top of the pins 70. A moving shear blade 73 is provided cooperating with the fixed blade 72. 'lhis blade is mounted at the right of a vertical polygonal spindle 7 e, which slides in extensions 75 of the horizontal slide oil. rlhe blade 7 3 is held normally elevated by means of a spring 7 6, compressed between the upper spindle holding extension 7 and the tcp of the spindle. rlhe .lower end of the spindle is provided with a pair of collars 77 between which the spindle embraced by the bifurcated extremity 78 of a lever 79. This lever 79 is located on the left hand side of the horizontal slide 54:, and is pivoted at its opposite extremity 80 from the bifurcations 78 to said slide in contra-distinction to the lever 61, which extends above the shaft. A roller 8l is mounted on the lever 79 intermediate the ends thereof and in such position that when the slide Fil is in its :forward position, this roller Si will be engaged by a cam 82 carried by the shaft i8 and mounted to the left of the cam 57. Expansion of the spring 76 holds this lever' and its roller always up to position, while the blade 73 engaging beneath the slide extension 75 prevents excess upward movement. Y

The horizontal slide Sil is provided at its rear end with a rearwardly projecting elef vated arm S3, to which a lever Se is pivoted at its upper extremity in such a way as to oscillate longitudinally of the tipping belt. A. small brush 85 is mounted on the lower end of this lever 84. The front guide supporting the slide 60 is provided with a journal S6, in which is mounted a short shaft 87 extending from front to back of the machine. rfhis shaft carries two arms 88 and 69 rigidly connected to its opposite ends. The front arm 8S is provided at its upper extremity with a roller 90 positioned to engage the side of the cam 65 upon which a partially raised flange 91 is formed, so that the cam (55 is in reality two cams in one. The rearmost arm 89 is pivotally connected at its upper extremity with the lever Se at a point intermediate the extremities thereof. .A small spring 92 is held in tension between the arm 89 and the slide 54 so as to hold the roller 90 always against the side of the cani 65.

llt will be readily understood from the preceding description that the cams 57, 65 and 82 obviously must maintain a fixed relation with the table 49, as they operate the various parts carried by the table. it will also be remembered that the table moves longitudinally of the machine bed. In order to make possible this fixed relation, these cams 57, 65 and 82 are rigidly mounted on a sleeve 93,.which is slidable longitudinally on the shaft 18, and is provided with an :internally projecting lin or lrey 94e engaging a longitudinal slot 95 formed in the shaft 18, so that the sleeve and cams lthereof may be moved longitudinally of the shaft with the movement of' the table and at the same time receive rotary motion from the shaft.

ln order to hold the main body of the cigarettes rigidly in the grooves of the carrying belt le during the tipping operation, a bracket 96 is secured to the right hand end of the frame and curves around outside the carrying belt, as clearly shown in Fig. l, and also extends over the top of the belt to a point a short distance to the left of the tipping mechanism. il. pair of loose rolls 97 are revolubly mounted in this bracket, one at the free extremity thereof and the other some distance below the level of the upper horizontal surface of the carrying belt. An endless belt 98 of webbing or other suitable material passes over these rollers 97, the upper half of this belt running approximately straight between the rollers while the lower half conforms to the curvature of the carrying belt, so that a constant tension is maintained in the belt 98 and it is kept constantly pressed down on the carrying belt.

The operation of the device has already been more or less described, but to give a more perfect understanding it may be summarized as follows :The cigarettes are discharged from the magazine onto the carrying belt lil. Simultaneously, the tipping material feeds from the spool through the pasting device and over the top of the tipping belt l5, and moves with the belt when the belt passes over the suction box 31. The rush of air from the capillary apertures 29 draws the tipping material down to conform with the curvature ofthe cigarette grooves, so that the cigarettes moved forward by the cam 27 slide on top of the pasted surface of the tipping material, so that the material is pasted to approximately one-half of the cigarettes circumference. Substantially simultaneous with the forward movement of the cigarette onto the tipping belt, the horizontal slide il moves forward and projects the bifurcations 69 and lower shear blades 7:2 into the recesses 30 of the tipping belt. During this rearward movement of the slide 5e, the table 49 moves the slide longitudinally of the machine to keep pace with the movement of the tipping belt. The upper shear blade 73 is now drawn down by the action of the cam S2 and cooperates with the lower blade 73 to sever a suitable length of tipping material. rlhe vertical slide 60 rises half way, and the long pins 7 O carried by the arm 68 raise the severed end of the tipping material to substantially vertical position, as shown in Fig. l0. The cam flange 91 of the cam 65 operates the arm 89 toy oscillate the brush lever 8a, so that the brush moves to the right and presses the recently severed end of the tip along down on the cigarette, Where it is held bythe adliesive.k The brush remains in its extreme right hand position, While the army 68 rises to full height, so that the short pins 7l turn up the loose end of the tipping material.

The brush then returnsto its original posi tion and presses down the material during its return passage over the cigarette. During the oscillation of the brush, the upper y shear bladek remains depressed and .out of the Way of the brush. Buring the ktipping operation, the table is moved toward the right hand a distance approximately equal to the lengthk of one link of thek tipping chain; 'The horizontal slide moves forward, they shear blade rises, and the arm-68 drops, thus disengaging the entire tipping mechanism from the tipping chain. rlhe table is then drawn back by its springs into register with the next link of the chain and the tipping mechanism moved rearwardly to engage the succeeding cigarette, as just described. llilhen the tipping operation is complete, the cigarette has been carried by the tivo chains beyond the influence of the suction box 31, so that it is entirely free from both belts, but cannot, however, become dislodged until it passes out from under theiholding. belt 9Sy as the carrying belt passes around its right preferably be of the variable speed type, soy

as to make a quick feed of the cigarettes during the return movement of the table. ln a single machine various lengths of cigarettes may be handled by substituting dierent sizes of magazines and carryingbelts. The Width of tipping material used may also be varied by substituting rolls and carrying spool of the proper dimension. Except in very eXtreme cases, it will not be necessary to change the parts of the tipping mechanism as a single size of these Will operate equally Well With all the Widths of tip usually employed. A great advantage of this f device is that the capacity of the apparatus is increased Without shortening the length of time occupied in tipping each cigarette by reason of the travel of the tipping appa-y f meneer ratus With the cha-in, so that a high speed is obtained Without sacrificing any perfection of result.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is l.y In ya cigarette tipping ymachine, the combination with' a tip material pasting and feeding device of a belt adapted to support cigarettes during tipping operation positioned to receive pasted tip material from said pasting mechanism, said belt comprish ing a plurality of pivotally connected links each having the central portion higher than the ends whereby pockets Will be formed between the links, said central link portions being grooved on the upper surface in conformity With the circumferential curvature of a cigarette and holloived out from `beneath capillary ducts connecting the hollow interior of the link with the bottom of the groove thereof, and a vacuum box positioned to be engaged by the underside of said belt and ar anged to draw down the tip material into conformity rwith the grooves by suction through the ducts yin readiness to receive the cigarettes.

2; ln cigarette tipping machine, a continuously moving cigarette support having cigarette receiving` grooves yand pockets al ternated with said grooves, tip cutting shears movable into the support pockets, tip Wrapping' means, certain rportions of said Wrapping means being movable into the support pockets, a shaft, a slide carrying said shears and tip Wrapping means, a guide for the slide, a cani on the shaft operating the slide to move the shears and Wrapping means into the support pockets, a` sliding table carrying the guide, a cam on said shaft adapted to move the table With the cigarette support during engagement of the shears, and certain portions of the Wrapping means in the support pockets, retracting means for said slide, and retracting means for the table. n

3. In a cigarette tipping machine, a continuously moving cigarette support having cigarette receiving groovesand pockets al ternated with said grooves, means for feeding pasted tip material over said grooves, means for feeding cigarettes onto the tip material in said grooves, tip cutting shears movable into the support pockets, tip Wrapping means, a shaft, a slide carrying said shears and tip Wrapping means, a guidey for the slide, a cam on the shaft operating the 'slide to move the shears and certain portions of the Wrapping means into the support pockets, a sliding table carryingthe guide, a cam on said shaft adapted to move the table with the cigarettefsupport during engagement of the shears and Wrapping means in the support pockets, retracting means for said slide, and retracting means for the table. f i

4. In a cigarette tipping machine, a continuously moving pocketed cigarette support, tip cutting means movable into and out of said support pockets, tip wrapping means, a slide carrying said cutting and wrapping means resilientlv held against movement toward the cigarette support, a shaft, a slidable sleeve thereon held against revolution independently of the shaft, a cam on said sleeve operating the slide toward and away from the cigarette support, a guide for said slide, a table carrying the guide and resiliently held against movement with the cigarette support, a cam on the shaft adapted to move the table and slide thereon with the cigarette support during engagement of the cutting device in the support pockets and in the reverse direction during withdrawal of said cutting device and means for moving said sleeve along the shaft with the movement of the table.

5. In a cigarette tipping machine, a continuously moving pocketed cigarette support, a table movable parallel with said support, a slide carried by the table movable toward and away from the cigarette support, tip cutting and tip wrapping mechanism mounted on said slide, said tip cutting mechanism being movable into and out of the support pockets with the movement of the slide, a shaft, a slidable sleeve thereon held against revolution independently of the shaft, said sleeve being arranged for sliding movement on the shaft with the movement of the table, a slide operating ycam on said sleeve, cutting and wrapping device operating cams on said sleeve, a table operating cam on the shaft arranged to move the table alternately with the movements of the slide, and support operating means driven from said shaft.

6, In a cigarette tipping machine, a shaft, a continuously moving poclreted cigarette support, driven from said shaft, cigarette tipping mechanism, a. table carrying said tipping mechanism, a cam adapted to move certain portions of the tipping mechanism into the support pockets and maintain the same therein during the tipping operation, tipping mechanism operating cams engageable by the tipping mechanism during engagement with the cigarette support, a cam on the shaft adapted to move said table and tipping mechanism thereon with the cigarette support during engagement of the tipping mechanism and support, retracting means for the table operative between the engagements of the tipping mechanism and support, and driving means on the shaft 'for the tipping mechanism moving and operating cams movable with the table.

7. In a cigarette tipping machine, a continuously moving cigarette support, a slotted slide movable perpendicular to the support, a shaft passing through the slot of said slide axially parallel with the direction of movement of said support, tipping mechanism mounted on the slide and movable into and out of engagement with the support by the movement of the slide, a table movable in the same direction and at the same speed as the support, a guide thereon carrying` the slide, a sleeve slidable but not revoluble on the shaft and movable with the table, a cam on said sleeve adapted to move the slide toward and away from the cigarette support, tipping mechanism operating cams on said sleeve, tipping mechanism operating levers mounted on the slide and movable therewith into engagement with their cams during engagement of the tipping mechanism and cigarette support, and a cam on the shaft adapted to move the table with the cigarette support during engagement of the tipping mechanism therewith and to return the table to normal position between said engagements.

8. In a cigarette tipping machine, a cigarette support, means for feeding pasted tip material to said support, means for feeding cigarettes onto the pasted tip material on said support, a bifurcated arm adapted to embrace the cigarette end, a slide arranged to move said arm into tip engaging position, an oscillating brush arm carried by the slide adapted to wrap the tip ends successively around the cigarette, pins of unequal length on the bifurcations of said arm arranged to raise the tip ends successively into the path of the brush, and means for operating said wrapping mechanism.

9. In a cigarette tipping machine, a cigarette support, means for feeding pasted tip material to said support, means for feeding cigarettes onto the pasted tip material on said support, a bifurcated arm adapted to embrace the cigarette end, a slide arranged to move said arm into tip engaging position, an oscillating brush arm carried by the slide adapted to wrap the tip ends successively around the cigarette, pins of unequal length on the bifurcations of said arm arranged to raise the tip ends successively into the path of the brush, means for operating said wrapping mechanism, means for continuously moving the cigarette support, means for moving the wrapping mechanism with the support during the tipping operation, and means for returning the wrapping mechanism to its original position on the completion of the wrapping operation.

l0. In a cigarette tipping machine, a continuously operating cigarette support, and an independently operating tipping mechanism movable into and out of engagement with the support.

11. In a cigarette tipping machine, a cigarette support traveling continuously in one direction, and a cigarette tipping mechanism traveling alternately in directions the same ask and contrary to said support, and movn able laterally into engagement With the sup port While traveling in the same direction thereas. 'y

12. ln a cigarettetipping machine, La cigarette support operating continuously in one direction, a cigarette tipping mechanism reciprocatable in paths parallel to and perpendicular to the direction of movement of the support and engageable with the support While 'moving in the same direction thereas.

13. ln a cigarette tipping machine, a magazine, a carrying belt', a cigarette sup porting belt, a continuous drive for said belts, means for supplying pasted tip material to the supporting belt, a stationarv cam in the path of cigarettes on the carrying belt arranged to project the same into en# ting mechanism and'means for applying the ysevered tip lengths to the cigarettes, mov-fy able independently of the ysiuoporting belt, means for moving the tipping mechanisms into and ont of engagement With the cig- Gepies er this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Iatents,r

jmy hand inthe arettes on the supporting belt, and Vmeans for moving the tipping mechanisms With the supporting belt during the tipping opery y ations and in the contrary direction betivee tipping operations. e f

15. In a cigarette tipping machine, ay

groovesy of the belt, pockets intermediate the grooves of said support, and tip length cutting andfapplying mechanisms mounted independently of the support, movable in part into the pockets of said support in a transversey direction and subsequently movabl parallel with the support.

y16. rIn a cigarette tipping machine, a moving cigarette support, a tipping mechanism, a slide carrying same, atable carrying the slide, tipping mechanism actuating means carried by the table, means yfor moving the slide and bringing the tipping mechanism into :engagement With its actuating means, and means for moving the tableandinecln ani sm thereon parallel with and in the same direction as the cigarette support during operation or' thetipping mechanism, and t'or returning the table to original positiony after the tipping operation.

In Witness whereof presence of tivo Witnesses.

JAMES CALLAGHAN.

llitnesses:

STUART R. lV. ALLEN, Gr. M. MORELAND.

Washington, XB.

l have hereunto set 

